I've got a week left until I'm supposed to return to the states. Technically, the US is "home"...it's where I'm from, where I grew up, it's what I know. However, in the last two months, Delhi has become home. You know that feeling you get when you travel somewhere and your heart tells you it's where you belong? I never had that in the Pacific Northwest. It always felt odd. India though, India is where my heart belongs. It's where it will forever stay.
As I've been recollecting my thoughts and looking back through the past couple of months, I've realized I'm going to miss a lot about this place:
1) How they put a green dot on foods to indicate it's vegetarian, and a red to denote non-veg and it's on EVERYTHING. There's no need to guess if it's got meat in it or not...
2) How you can walk anywhere for at least 5 minutes and run into a market...
3) The markets even if they're small, have everything you could need or want on a daily basis...
4) The chemists act as general physician doctors so you don't need to spend extra money if you already know what's ailing you. And then when you need it, the antibiotics or other drugs are really super cheap...
5) Food isn't just a necessity, it's what brings people together. Oh, and as an added bonus, 95% of it is good!!...
6) Vegetarian meals don't seem so odd, you could (at least temporarily) picture yourself not eating meat every again...
7) The lizard(s) that hang out in your room, behind your tube light, and underneath your bed...
8) How people help each other, hidden agendas or not...
9) Seeing children knocking on your car window to buy meaningless crap instead of going to school, and feeling helpless in a messed up world...
10) Getting the material for a shirt for $2.50 and then having a tailor make it to fit your unique body for another $2.50...
11) Nosey Aunty and Uncle who are in everyone's business for the sake of community. Nevermind the fact that they're unfortunately where you live and not down the street...
12) Being stared at like you're some alien from outer space because you're so pale. Then again, the paleness is a sign of beauty so it makes you feel like the prettiest woman on Earth...
13) Driving down the road in a taxi and feeling like you're on Space Mountain in Disneyland, with the lights on...
14) The spirituality India posses, moving you in ways you only dreamed of, making you want to learn more...
15) Never quite feeling as feminine as you did before with the sarees and the jewelry and the bangles and the shoes and everything else that females wear here on a daily basis, because they can...
16) Driving the equivalent of Portland to Seattle for a get-away, but it takes you all day to get there because of the traffic...
17) "Bathing" in the Ganga river and feeling healed although you probably inhaled your fair share of pollutants and deadly diseases...
18) Playing in the Arabian Sea, learning how salty it really is, and watching the sun set over the palm tree lined, white sand beaches...
19) The markets! Ohhhh geez, I'm definitely going to miss the markets! I'm going to miss wandering through the little paths filled with thousands of people looking for good deals. Then haggling prices with the owner who first give you an inflated price because you're white but learn that you've been in the game before and quickly lower their prices so you don't go to the stall down the alleyway which was offering it to you for 200 bucks (Rupees) less...
20) Trying to plan things in advance but having to succumb to the millions of others who will do what they want when they want, and ending up just going with the flow...
21) Learning that even through all of the bad, the good is still 100x better than where you're from...
I really don't want to go back to the US! =(
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Goa, You Will Be My New Home!
Goa
And here I thought the Taj Mahal was spectacular! Goa was a million times better. The weather was 34-38C compared to 46C. Even though the air was more humid due to the location being on the Arabian Sea, the breeze kept everything cool.
Goa is a tropical paradise. You have a wide variety of cultures (Several Indian cultures, Portuguese, Spanish, etc) and the day-to-day life of the average Goan reflects those differences. The houses are built with concrete terracotta instead of bricks. And they have a unique Spanish architecture to them that you cannot find anywhere else in India! Not only that, the houses are so colorful! When you add the multi-cultural ambiance to the fact that almost everyone (at least those that you would need to talk to) speak English and everything is fairly cheap, you could understand why people flock to Goa from all over the world!
We arrived to Goa directly from Delhi. It was about 3 hours via Go Air. The plane was newer, the staff was friendly, and I don't think I've looked forward to a mini-vacation within a vacation quite like this! We arrived at the airport where a taxi took us to the Alila Diwa Resort about 20km away. The car was old and beat up; judging my the driving, it made sense why the car felt like it would explode at any minute. The driver was driving at 120km through twists and turns, overtaking people on motorcycles left and right. Rahul said he felt like he was in an F1 (Formula One) race and it was exciting, and I felt like the driver wished that was his real profession. I was scared shitless! Once we finally arrived at the Alila Diwa, we were both breathless over it's beauty.
The Alila Diwa is a new resort in Goa which features modern architecture and aroma therapy/aryuvedic inspiration. The place was definitely five star all the way! We got into our room and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do first, fall asleep on the bed or take a bath.
Now, I've been deprived of a couple of things since my arrival to India. One would be a comfortable bed. Second would be the use of a shower and/or bath tub. My bed at home is modest at best and the same goes for the tub even though they're better than none. Really, it hadn't bothered me until we arrived to the resort. You lay on the beds at the Alila Diwa and you instantly sink into the lap of luxury. Same goes for the huge two person tub!
The night that we arrived, there was a cocktail party for the guests of the wedding. There was some singing/dancing from special relatives who put on the performances for the bride and groom. I wore a black and gold Indo-Western kurta that I picked up in Delhi the night before the flight. I didn't have time to have a tailor make a shirt for me that would be appropriate for the party. None of my clothing would have been appropriate either. I was told by several people that weddings are a reason to get fancy and dress up in the Indian culture so while I didn't want to go “all out”, I didn't want to be “dressed-down” either. I received several compliments from guests that night. They said the shirt was pretty and it looked good on me. Honestly, I wasn't sure if it was the booze talking or if they were just being nice because a white girl was wearing an Indian-ish outfit. Rahul got drunk. His boss (the groom) had called him early during the cocktail party to his room so Rahul could help with a tie. After they decided to skip the tie, they downed a couple shots of vodka. He came back about 20 minutes later and was already starting to get tipsy. Then a couple drinks later, he was drunk. It was fun actually. He really let loose and relaxed. Normally I see him some time before/after work and he's all tense and business-like. I tried to get him to dance but all he would do is sway in his chair.
That night I slept in and slept like a baby. Rahul woke me up around 1030 to ask me if I wanted to go downstairs for breakfast. I declined. I wanted to sleep more! I woke up a short while after and got ready for the day. We were going to go to the beach. Rahul came to get me after breakfast and some how started working. Three hours later, we finally left for the beach. The hotel brought a car to take us to the beach where we were the only people. We spent a good two or so hours playing in the water. There were millions of tiny little muscles at the edge of the water. Every time the water would splash up to the shore, it would wash away the sand on top of the muscle, which would then proceed to bury itself back under the sand. It was fun playing with the muscles, scooping up the sand around them and seeing if they would continue to bury down. While we were splashing around in the water, we noticed tiny little translucent craps scurrying everywhere on the beach. We tried to catch one but those suckers were too fast.
After two or so hours, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. We ended up being late due to the fact that the original hotel worker which was going to help me with my saree left and then we had to wait until another one could show up to help me. I know how to do a saree (thanks to YouTube) but Rahul wanted me to get help since this was supposed to be a formal function. The hotel staff was absolutely delighted that I was wearing a saree. All the girls beamed smiles from ear to ear.
Some guy that was attending the wedding said I looked much different in a saree. I asked him if that meant it looked good and he said “Yes, the saree looks good on you.” Again, I got stares. It took me a while but I noticed why. Most of the females at the wedding wore very fancy and elaborate sarees. Then there were ones that wore very western dresses. None looked as good as me. I had the right mixture of everything. At least, I think so. Maybe I'm being overly confident. The dress was simple, yet elegant. The jewelry I chose matched the saree perfectly and complimented it. You see the Bollywood actresses and they usually end up choosing similar attire. The jewelry would have been wasted on a saree which had too much detail and sparkles. Bigger earrings and a necklace (or smaller) would have made the saree look to plain. Even the groom commented on the jewelry and how elegant it was. Little did everyone know, I only paid $15.50 for the set hehehe The only problem to the outfit was the fact that the sand made it hard to walk and I'm sure I ended up incurring some damage as a result. I know that by the end of the night, I looked like a mess.
The wedding was interesting. It wasn't a typical Indian wedding. There weren't thousands of people there celebrating. Instead, there was about 100 people. The wedding was mostly watched by relatives and the reception was shared by all, which was right after the wedding. After the couple returned from the beach, there was a band which played some songs which included some Bhangra and Goan styled music. I didn't know that Goan music was so popular and so tropical. I loved it. After there was a guy from either Australia or New Zealand which performed some fire-dancing and breathing tricks. The dude was gay as gay could be but he put on quite the show. Then the band returned for some more tunes as people drank, ate, and danced. Then suddenly, the night was over. The band left and people started to leave.
One of Rahul's coworkers (creepy bugger) wanted his picture taken with me so Rahul, the creepy coworker, another coworker, and I headed down to the sea to take some pictures. I could tell by the way the guy kept looking at me and commenting about my outfits, that he had a thing for me. I told Rahul I didn't feel comfortable alone with him so he stayed near by. While we were taking pictures, I had walked behind him to get to the other side and he leaned back to rub against me. That really ticked me off. I told Rahul about it and I think it ticked him off even more.
Again I slept like a baby. The next morning we woke up to check out from the Alila Diwa and head to the Ramada. I saw the resort on Travelocity and convinced Rahul to check in there. We loved the place so much, we ended up staying an extra night! The resort is spread out and covered in palm trees, unlike the Alila Diwa. Instead of a square modern pool, there was a huge beautiful pool surrounded by more palm trees. The pool was the center of the resort. They also had a variety of activities like badmitton, tennis, golf, para-sailing, jetskiing, etc. We wanted to go jet-skiing so we set off to the ocean which was a short walk away from the room. The beach had a restaurant and a bar. The jet-ski would have cost 800 rupees for 10 minutes. Really, it wasn't 10 minutes, it was a quick ride out and back in, five minutes at most. Not only that, we wouldn't have been able to ride together since the operator required that he be on the ski even though I knew how to drive it. Instead, we went out to catch some big waves and ride them in. Rahul was scared at first since he doesn't know how to swim but I quickly got him to open up the idea of letting the wave push you to the shore. The problem is, the poor guy didn't know how to float. After about 2 hours out in the water, I got frustrated so I took him to the pool to teach him how to float. We stayed until the pool closed and I got him about 90% floating. Then we went back to the room to clean up for dinner and headed down to have a buffet pool side. There was a pregnant stray cat that came up to our table and started meowing at us. I wasn't going to feed it until I saw that it was pregnant, then it had my sympathy. The poor cat was probably 1-2 years old (still a baby!) and too skinny to be pregnant. I fed it some rice then Rahul started feeding it chicken. Then the cat wouldn't eat the rice, it got too picky.
Fell asleep in the comfortable (more comfortable than the Alila Diwa) bed and woke up late. We wanted to wake up to watch the sun rise but I think we were both too tired from playing in the ocean and learning to swim. The next morning we went out to the pool and spent about 2 hours trying to get that other 10% of Rahul to float. It wasn't working so I headed over to the island bar (bar in the middle of the pool) to have a pina colada and take a break from swimming. Then we tried some more but I think we both gave up. Good thing we did too! I got sunburnt again, this time just my shoulders =( We took a nap, explored the resort, had a drink at the bar on the beach, played in the Arabian Sea again, slept some more, watched the sun set, and had dinner again pool side.
I could definitely imagine having my wedding there. Not a beach side wedding, but having it at a tropical place where the beach is near by. It's perfect!
The next morning when we checked out, I inquired about the rates for having a wedding and it's surprisingly cheap! The resort is a 5 star resort for a fraction of the cost of the Alila Diwa plus it included more incentives. The only problem in having a wedding at the Ramada Caravela Resort in Goa is getting all of my family to India.
I swear to all of you, family who is reading this: You better get your passports in order because sooner or later (hopefully the former) I will be getting married and I WILL be having my wedding there. You don't want to miss out because you didn't get your passport in time!
Anyway, after checking out, we took at taxi to a beach near the airport to drop of my GeoCaching gnome. The taxi driver was very nice and found the beach but unfortunately the bar where the cache was kept was closed down for the season =( Instead, we grabbed a quick snack, a drink, and invited our driver to join us. He talked about the fact that he hasn't always been a taxi driver. He used to work on a ship which transported lime stone from Mexico. After 20 years of working there, he had to quit because the salt water was giving him heart problems. You always hear about people taking taxi rides and the drivers end up being pretty cool. I have been here for almost 2 months and this was the first time, and it wasn't in Delhi. It's neat listening to people's life stories. You don't look at others the same way after.
We bought some Goan cashews at the airport and took a flight back to Delhi with a stop in Mumbai. Mumbai (from the air) is INTERESTING! There are slums surrounding the airport and all over Mumbai. Apparently, the slums aren't really full of poor people, just people that can't afford the high cost of living in apartments in Mumbai. Rahul was commenting that even if he had his current job down there, there would be no way he could afford an apartment. That is why the government won't get rid of the slums and that's why you find the slums in pretty decent condition. I was expecting to see something like Slumdog Millionaire but it was actually pretty decent which scared me a bit.
We arrived back in Delhi around 730. It was 41C (106) after the sun set which made me want to get back on a plane for Goa. The prepaid taxi which took me back to my home in Defence Colony wasn't air conditioned. Luckily, the driver drove like a bat out of hell and was taking weird turns instead of staying on the high way so he was constantly driving. The guy didn't speak English, I don't speak Hindi, but we some how managed to understand each other and I got home at a decent time.
Now, I'm tired but it's too hot in my room. The AC is turned on high and down to 18C yet it still feels like an oven. It's now almost 1AM and it's still 37 (99F) which means I probably won't get a good night's sleep since it's too hot. My room might be 90-95 even with the fan and AC going. I want a swamp cooler so bad! If this were my actual apartment, I would put one in. This AC doesn't cool very well. Well...nothing in this room works quite right, but that's India!
And here I thought the Taj Mahal was spectacular! Goa was a million times better. The weather was 34-38C compared to 46C. Even though the air was more humid due to the location being on the Arabian Sea, the breeze kept everything cool.
Goa is a tropical paradise. You have a wide variety of cultures (Several Indian cultures, Portuguese, Spanish, etc) and the day-to-day life of the average Goan reflects those differences. The houses are built with concrete terracotta instead of bricks. And they have a unique Spanish architecture to them that you cannot find anywhere else in India! Not only that, the houses are so colorful! When you add the multi-cultural ambiance to the fact that almost everyone (at least those that you would need to talk to) speak English and everything is fairly cheap, you could understand why people flock to Goa from all over the world!
We arrived to Goa directly from Delhi. It was about 3 hours via Go Air. The plane was newer, the staff was friendly, and I don't think I've looked forward to a mini-vacation within a vacation quite like this! We arrived at the airport where a taxi took us to the Alila Diwa Resort about 20km away. The car was old and beat up; judging my the driving, it made sense why the car felt like it would explode at any minute. The driver was driving at 120km through twists and turns, overtaking people on motorcycles left and right. Rahul said he felt like he was in an F1 (Formula One) race and it was exciting, and I felt like the driver wished that was his real profession. I was scared shitless! Once we finally arrived at the Alila Diwa, we were both breathless over it's beauty.
The Alila Diwa is a new resort in Goa which features modern architecture and aroma therapy/aryuvedic inspiration. The place was definitely five star all the way! We got into our room and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do first, fall asleep on the bed or take a bath.
Now, I've been deprived of a couple of things since my arrival to India. One would be a comfortable bed. Second would be the use of a shower and/or bath tub. My bed at home is modest at best and the same goes for the tub even though they're better than none. Really, it hadn't bothered me until we arrived to the resort. You lay on the beds at the Alila Diwa and you instantly sink into the lap of luxury. Same goes for the huge two person tub!
The night that we arrived, there was a cocktail party for the guests of the wedding. There was some singing/dancing from special relatives who put on the performances for the bride and groom. I wore a black and gold Indo-Western kurta that I picked up in Delhi the night before the flight. I didn't have time to have a tailor make a shirt for me that would be appropriate for the party. None of my clothing would have been appropriate either. I was told by several people that weddings are a reason to get fancy and dress up in the Indian culture so while I didn't want to go “all out”, I didn't want to be “dressed-down” either. I received several compliments from guests that night. They said the shirt was pretty and it looked good on me. Honestly, I wasn't sure if it was the booze talking or if they were just being nice because a white girl was wearing an Indian-ish outfit. Rahul got drunk. His boss (the groom) had called him early during the cocktail party to his room so Rahul could help with a tie. After they decided to skip the tie, they downed a couple shots of vodka. He came back about 20 minutes later and was already starting to get tipsy. Then a couple drinks later, he was drunk. It was fun actually. He really let loose and relaxed. Normally I see him some time before/after work and he's all tense and business-like. I tried to get him to dance but all he would do is sway in his chair.
That night I slept in and slept like a baby. Rahul woke me up around 1030 to ask me if I wanted to go downstairs for breakfast. I declined. I wanted to sleep more! I woke up a short while after and got ready for the day. We were going to go to the beach. Rahul came to get me after breakfast and some how started working. Three hours later, we finally left for the beach. The hotel brought a car to take us to the beach where we were the only people. We spent a good two or so hours playing in the water. There were millions of tiny little muscles at the edge of the water. Every time the water would splash up to the shore, it would wash away the sand on top of the muscle, which would then proceed to bury itself back under the sand. It was fun playing with the muscles, scooping up the sand around them and seeing if they would continue to bury down. While we were splashing around in the water, we noticed tiny little translucent craps scurrying everywhere on the beach. We tried to catch one but those suckers were too fast.
After two or so hours, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. We ended up being late due to the fact that the original hotel worker which was going to help me with my saree left and then we had to wait until another one could show up to help me. I know how to do a saree (thanks to YouTube) but Rahul wanted me to get help since this was supposed to be a formal function. The hotel staff was absolutely delighted that I was wearing a saree. All the girls beamed smiles from ear to ear.
Some guy that was attending the wedding said I looked much different in a saree. I asked him if that meant it looked good and he said “Yes, the saree looks good on you.” Again, I got stares. It took me a while but I noticed why. Most of the females at the wedding wore very fancy and elaborate sarees. Then there were ones that wore very western dresses. None looked as good as me. I had the right mixture of everything. At least, I think so. Maybe I'm being overly confident. The dress was simple, yet elegant. The jewelry I chose matched the saree perfectly and complimented it. You see the Bollywood actresses and they usually end up choosing similar attire. The jewelry would have been wasted on a saree which had too much detail and sparkles. Bigger earrings and a necklace (or smaller) would have made the saree look to plain. Even the groom commented on the jewelry and how elegant it was. Little did everyone know, I only paid $15.50 for the set hehehe The only problem to the outfit was the fact that the sand made it hard to walk and I'm sure I ended up incurring some damage as a result. I know that by the end of the night, I looked like a mess.
The wedding was interesting. It wasn't a typical Indian wedding. There weren't thousands of people there celebrating. Instead, there was about 100 people. The wedding was mostly watched by relatives and the reception was shared by all, which was right after the wedding. After the couple returned from the beach, there was a band which played some songs which included some Bhangra and Goan styled music. I didn't know that Goan music was so popular and so tropical. I loved it. After there was a guy from either Australia or New Zealand which performed some fire-dancing and breathing tricks. The dude was gay as gay could be but he put on quite the show. Then the band returned for some more tunes as people drank, ate, and danced. Then suddenly, the night was over. The band left and people started to leave.
One of Rahul's coworkers (creepy bugger) wanted his picture taken with me so Rahul, the creepy coworker, another coworker, and I headed down to the sea to take some pictures. I could tell by the way the guy kept looking at me and commenting about my outfits, that he had a thing for me. I told Rahul I didn't feel comfortable alone with him so he stayed near by. While we were taking pictures, I had walked behind him to get to the other side and he leaned back to rub against me. That really ticked me off. I told Rahul about it and I think it ticked him off even more.
Again I slept like a baby. The next morning we woke up to check out from the Alila Diwa and head to the Ramada. I saw the resort on Travelocity and convinced Rahul to check in there. We loved the place so much, we ended up staying an extra night! The resort is spread out and covered in palm trees, unlike the Alila Diwa. Instead of a square modern pool, there was a huge beautiful pool surrounded by more palm trees. The pool was the center of the resort. They also had a variety of activities like badmitton, tennis, golf, para-sailing, jetskiing, etc. We wanted to go jet-skiing so we set off to the ocean which was a short walk away from the room. The beach had a restaurant and a bar. The jet-ski would have cost 800 rupees for 10 minutes. Really, it wasn't 10 minutes, it was a quick ride out and back in, five minutes at most. Not only that, we wouldn't have been able to ride together since the operator required that he be on the ski even though I knew how to drive it. Instead, we went out to catch some big waves and ride them in. Rahul was scared at first since he doesn't know how to swim but I quickly got him to open up the idea of letting the wave push you to the shore. The problem is, the poor guy didn't know how to float. After about 2 hours out in the water, I got frustrated so I took him to the pool to teach him how to float. We stayed until the pool closed and I got him about 90% floating. Then we went back to the room to clean up for dinner and headed down to have a buffet pool side. There was a pregnant stray cat that came up to our table and started meowing at us. I wasn't going to feed it until I saw that it was pregnant, then it had my sympathy. The poor cat was probably 1-2 years old (still a baby!) and too skinny to be pregnant. I fed it some rice then Rahul started feeding it chicken. Then the cat wouldn't eat the rice, it got too picky.
Fell asleep in the comfortable (more comfortable than the Alila Diwa) bed and woke up late. We wanted to wake up to watch the sun rise but I think we were both too tired from playing in the ocean and learning to swim. The next morning we went out to the pool and spent about 2 hours trying to get that other 10% of Rahul to float. It wasn't working so I headed over to the island bar (bar in the middle of the pool) to have a pina colada and take a break from swimming. Then we tried some more but I think we both gave up. Good thing we did too! I got sunburnt again, this time just my shoulders =( We took a nap, explored the resort, had a drink at the bar on the beach, played in the Arabian Sea again, slept some more, watched the sun set, and had dinner again pool side.
I could definitely imagine having my wedding there. Not a beach side wedding, but having it at a tropical place where the beach is near by. It's perfect!
The next morning when we checked out, I inquired about the rates for having a wedding and it's surprisingly cheap! The resort is a 5 star resort for a fraction of the cost of the Alila Diwa plus it included more incentives. The only problem in having a wedding at the Ramada Caravela Resort in Goa is getting all of my family to India.
I swear to all of you, family who is reading this: You better get your passports in order because sooner or later (hopefully the former) I will be getting married and I WILL be having my wedding there. You don't want to miss out because you didn't get your passport in time!
Anyway, after checking out, we took at taxi to a beach near the airport to drop of my GeoCaching gnome. The taxi driver was very nice and found the beach but unfortunately the bar where the cache was kept was closed down for the season =( Instead, we grabbed a quick snack, a drink, and invited our driver to join us. He talked about the fact that he hasn't always been a taxi driver. He used to work on a ship which transported lime stone from Mexico. After 20 years of working there, he had to quit because the salt water was giving him heart problems. You always hear about people taking taxi rides and the drivers end up being pretty cool. I have been here for almost 2 months and this was the first time, and it wasn't in Delhi. It's neat listening to people's life stories. You don't look at others the same way after.
We bought some Goan cashews at the airport and took a flight back to Delhi with a stop in Mumbai. Mumbai (from the air) is INTERESTING! There are slums surrounding the airport and all over Mumbai. Apparently, the slums aren't really full of poor people, just people that can't afford the high cost of living in apartments in Mumbai. Rahul was commenting that even if he had his current job down there, there would be no way he could afford an apartment. That is why the government won't get rid of the slums and that's why you find the slums in pretty decent condition. I was expecting to see something like Slumdog Millionaire but it was actually pretty decent which scared me a bit.
We arrived back in Delhi around 730. It was 41C (106) after the sun set which made me want to get back on a plane for Goa. The prepaid taxi which took me back to my home in Defence Colony wasn't air conditioned. Luckily, the driver drove like a bat out of hell and was taking weird turns instead of staying on the high way so he was constantly driving. The guy didn't speak English, I don't speak Hindi, but we some how managed to understand each other and I got home at a decent time.
Now, I'm tired but it's too hot in my room. The AC is turned on high and down to 18C yet it still feels like an oven. It's now almost 1AM and it's still 37 (99F) which means I probably won't get a good night's sleep since it's too hot. My room might be 90-95 even with the fan and AC going. I want a swamp cooler so bad! If this were my actual apartment, I would put one in. This AC doesn't cool very well. Well...nothing in this room works quite right, but that's India!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Agra Sunday and the Taj Mahal
Where oh where do I begin?! I'm still dumb-struck at the Taj Mahal's beauty. I keep looking at all of the pictures because I can't believe I was actually there! It's made me want to visit more; not just in India, but around the world. Watch out World, there's no stopping this traveler now!
We left my place around 530am. We were supposed to leave earlier but Rahul had a late night and there's no way in hell I can drive in India – not that I want to – and I wanted to get to Agra and back in one piece. I let him sleep in a bit before calling to wake him up. The first stop was to get coffee, drinks, snacks, etc. The ride down was great. We listened to music, talked. The ride was about the same distance as to Rishikesh, but it only took 3 hours to arrive instead of 8-12. Score!
At first we stopped off at a tomb just on the outside of Agra in Sikandara, called Akbar's Tomb. Since we arrived around 9-9:30, it was still pretty early and Akbar's Tomb looked amazing. I figured after seeing the Taj Mahal, I'd be too exhausted and tired to stop and see anything else. Luckily, I was right. I only had to pay 100 bucks to get in to this place. It's set on 60 square acres. Like everything Mughal, it's all precisely planned. There are gardens to either side of the walkway from the main (south) entrance to the tomb. There were plenty of deer, antelope, and peacocks on the grass. I didn't see a sign that said you couldn't be down there but because no one else was, I didn't step out on to the grass. Most tombs feature “false tombs” where you can pay homage but the real dead body tomb is some where in the basement. There were several "tombs" towards the out of the building housing Akar's body. Quickly slip off your shoes and you can walk down to the basement to see Akbar's actual tomb. There's a man that stands guard over it. The room has a high vaulted ceiling and the man would sing prayers to the gods. It'd echo throughout the room and sounded amazing!
Apparently Akbar was quite the ruler. He built a huge empire and basically helped everyone to get along. I think the sign outside the tomb says it best so I'm going to post pictures what was written:
Definitely this tomb was elegant and peaceful. Akbar did an amazing job designing it! After we got hassled by touts to buy elephants (“2 for 200 bucks. No? How about 3 for 200?” “Ma'am, how would you like postcards. The whole book for 50. Okay, how about 30?”), we set off for the glory in all it's splendor, the Taj Mahal! I thought the touts at Akbar's Tomb were bad, there weren't ANYTHING compared to the ones at the Taj Mahal. It's really really sad to see so many people trying to rip you off left and right while you attempt to see devotional love in it's pure form. It's worse than the kids that stand out on the street intersections of Delhi trying to sell you random crap!
We found a parking spot. You could walk, take a rickshaw, or ride a camel rickshaw to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. I wasn't too happy with all the touts so I decided to walk. Up until the end of the 1-1.5km trek, we had touts trying to get us to take their rickshaw for only 40 bucks, then 30, then 20. Oh and there were TONS of vendors selling souvenirs. Rahul's dad had talked to me about these vendors when I met him. He told me that almost all vendors say they're selling marble but it's really only soap-stone which dissolves quickly. I knew not to buy into their words, no matter how "cheap" they were willing to go. We were low on paani at that point so we hit the restaurant just outside the gates to get some water and cool down in the AC before hitting the pavement again. The food was really good but the power went out about 5 minutes after sitting down. It was cooler than outside, but I was still sweating a bunch.
I had to pay 750 bucks ($18) to get into the Taj Mahal, it came with a “free” guide, shoe covers, and a small bottle of cool water. The cool water didn't stay cool for very long. It was around 1130am at that point and the sun was beating down. I kept trying to sip the water but when it's warm, it's hard to swallow. We walked around the complex a bit. There's a museum within the Taj Mahal area but the power cut out there too and as soon as we stepped in, I couldn't breathe and I started pouring out buckets of sweat.
Rahul kept trying to tell me that being there wasn't simply enough. I really needed to go up to the Taj Mahal to see it's beauty up close. The problem was, the heat was making me dizzy, my head felt like it was in a vice, he didn't get shoe covers (that's what you get for 20 bucks vs 750), and I know for a fact that if the stone pathways were as hot as they were, the marble Taj Mahal would be a million times worse. I convinced him to sit in the shade up close to the Taj while I cooled down. He asked me to ask a foreigner for their shoe covers. I told him to go through the garbage and get a pair out. He said it was gross. Then all of a sudden a whole big group of Indians rushed towards the garbage can and started sifting through the shoe covers. Apparently, the marble WAS that hot. Then one of the shoe attendants went through and grabbed all the good ones and proceeded to sell them to those who wanted them for 20 bucks a pair. Haha!
While we were discussing Mughal designs, how they built such an amazing thing with such little equipment, and what the other building next to it was for, I realized there were MONKEYS in the trees!!! I know Rahul is afraid of monkeys but they were all sleeping high up in the trees and I wanted to get some good up close pictures. He followed me up until one jumped from the wall to the tree to kick another monkey out if it's spot. Dude walked as fast as he could without literally running, back to where the Taj Mahal was. I literally had to jog to catch up with him.
After that we decided to see if the museum's power was back on. It wasn't. Then I realized there was a GeoCache at the Taj Mahal! However, the idiot that I am, left my phone in the trunk of the car so I had less that could be snatched from me. I thought the tree was “156” so we searched and searched for the micro cache but came up short. Rahul was convinced it had been collected up as garbage. I was convinced we didn't look hard enough, got home and it was tree “338”...d'oh! Then we took some more pictures of me with the mighty Taj and decided it was time for the AC car. We took a rickshaw back to the car. He conveniently stopped short so we could buy souvenirs from some crap stand. One kid followed me all the way down to our car trying to get me to buy 4 "marble" necklaces for only 200! Ignoring him did not work. Not only that, I didn't have any small change on me and I wasn't about to be given counterfeit money, a problem at the Taj.
I took some pictures of the Agra Fort as we passed by it. The place was amazingly beautiful and HUGE but I felt like up-chucking so I decided it was not worth the effort. Then I decided that I have to come back when its nice (i.e. not the summer time) and see this all again, with vigour! Rahul kept telling me he didn't want me to regret not doing all this before I leave. Quite honestly, I'd regret dying just to see it. I'm definitely come back and hopefully again this year! Theres just too much here to see in 2 months, even if you were to do nothing but tour the whole time.
I fell asleep in the car and Rahul woke me shortly before an exit where there's a Hare Krishna temple. I thought it was the HUGE statue that we saw coming down. Turns out, that was a different temple. We took pictures of that from the road. He asked me if I wanted to go in and take pictures but I felt it'd be a little disrespectful. He agreed. So we high-tailed it home from that point and stopped off in New Friends Colony (Delhi) to get Pizza Hut, came back to my place, had a quite bite to eat, and then time for bed. The problem is, I am too excited about my day to sleep. So I figured I'd write a blog first and then try to sleep.
Agra was a smelly, extremely dirty town; but it holds such beautiful old charming buildings. I have to come back and visit! And if there's one thing you should do before you die, it's travel to all the world sights that have awe-inspired you during your life. I guarantee you'll be a much happier person for it.
**
On a side note, I got home and someone had been in my apartment rummaging through my dirty laundry. WTF?! Aunty and Uncle kept trying to replace the lock on my door cause they didn't have a key. They said it was for emergencies. I figured they wanted to snoop. Last I checked, going through clothes was not an emergency. How do I know it was done? I distinctly remember placing my black PJ bottoms at the top of the pile while I was getting ready to take a bath. And my undies were in the bottoms. When I got home, everything else was in order but a bunch of my shirts were at the top, the PJ's were down lower part of the basket, and my undies weren't in the bottoms. I can't call Aunty and Uncle out on that cause they would deny it and cause more problems. And while it wouldn't bother me if they wanted to search my room because they're snoops – I have nothing to hide in here – it bothers me that the only thing out of place were my clothes. If this is going to happen every time I leave, I don't want to be here!! What the heck should I do?
We left my place around 530am. We were supposed to leave earlier but Rahul had a late night and there's no way in hell I can drive in India – not that I want to – and I wanted to get to Agra and back in one piece. I let him sleep in a bit before calling to wake him up. The first stop was to get coffee, drinks, snacks, etc. The ride down was great. We listened to music, talked. The ride was about the same distance as to Rishikesh, but it only took 3 hours to arrive instead of 8-12. Score!
At first we stopped off at a tomb just on the outside of Agra in Sikandara, called Akbar's Tomb. Since we arrived around 9-9:30, it was still pretty early and Akbar's Tomb looked amazing. I figured after seeing the Taj Mahal, I'd be too exhausted and tired to stop and see anything else. Luckily, I was right. I only had to pay 100 bucks to get in to this place. It's set on 60 square acres. Like everything Mughal, it's all precisely planned. There are gardens to either side of the walkway from the main (south) entrance to the tomb. There were plenty of deer, antelope, and peacocks on the grass. I didn't see a sign that said you couldn't be down there but because no one else was, I didn't step out on to the grass. Most tombs feature “false tombs” where you can pay homage but the real dead body tomb is some where in the basement. There were several "tombs" towards the out of the building housing Akar's body. Quickly slip off your shoes and you can walk down to the basement to see Akbar's actual tomb. There's a man that stands guard over it. The room has a high vaulted ceiling and the man would sing prayers to the gods. It'd echo throughout the room and sounded amazing!
Apparently Akbar was quite the ruler. He built a huge empire and basically helped everyone to get along. I think the sign outside the tomb says it best so I'm going to post pictures what was written:
Definitely this tomb was elegant and peaceful. Akbar did an amazing job designing it! After we got hassled by touts to buy elephants (“2 for 200 bucks. No? How about 3 for 200?” “Ma'am, how would you like postcards. The whole book for 50. Okay, how about 30?”), we set off for the glory in all it's splendor, the Taj Mahal! I thought the touts at Akbar's Tomb were bad, there weren't ANYTHING compared to the ones at the Taj Mahal. It's really really sad to see so many people trying to rip you off left and right while you attempt to see devotional love in it's pure form. It's worse than the kids that stand out on the street intersections of Delhi trying to sell you random crap!
We found a parking spot. You could walk, take a rickshaw, or ride a camel rickshaw to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. I wasn't too happy with all the touts so I decided to walk. Up until the end of the 1-1.5km trek, we had touts trying to get us to take their rickshaw for only 40 bucks, then 30, then 20. Oh and there were TONS of vendors selling souvenirs. Rahul's dad had talked to me about these vendors when I met him. He told me that almost all vendors say they're selling marble but it's really only soap-stone which dissolves quickly. I knew not to buy into their words, no matter how "cheap" they were willing to go. We were low on paani at that point so we hit the restaurant just outside the gates to get some water and cool down in the AC before hitting the pavement again. The food was really good but the power went out about 5 minutes after sitting down. It was cooler than outside, but I was still sweating a bunch.
I had to pay 750 bucks ($18) to get into the Taj Mahal, it came with a “free” guide, shoe covers, and a small bottle of cool water. The cool water didn't stay cool for very long. It was around 1130am at that point and the sun was beating down. I kept trying to sip the water but when it's warm, it's hard to swallow. We walked around the complex a bit. There's a museum within the Taj Mahal area but the power cut out there too and as soon as we stepped in, I couldn't breathe and I started pouring out buckets of sweat.
Rahul kept trying to tell me that being there wasn't simply enough. I really needed to go up to the Taj Mahal to see it's beauty up close. The problem was, the heat was making me dizzy, my head felt like it was in a vice, he didn't get shoe covers (that's what you get for 20 bucks vs 750), and I know for a fact that if the stone pathways were as hot as they were, the marble Taj Mahal would be a million times worse. I convinced him to sit in the shade up close to the Taj while I cooled down. He asked me to ask a foreigner for their shoe covers. I told him to go through the garbage and get a pair out. He said it was gross. Then all of a sudden a whole big group of Indians rushed towards the garbage can and started sifting through the shoe covers. Apparently, the marble WAS that hot. Then one of the shoe attendants went through and grabbed all the good ones and proceeded to sell them to those who wanted them for 20 bucks a pair. Haha!
After that we decided to see if the museum's power was back on. It wasn't. Then I realized there was a GeoCache at the Taj Mahal! However, the idiot that I am, left my phone in the trunk of the car so I had less that could be snatched from me. I thought the tree was “156” so we searched and searched for the micro cache but came up short. Rahul was convinced it had been collected up as garbage. I was convinced we didn't look hard enough, got home and it was tree “338”...d'oh! Then we took some more pictures of me with the mighty Taj and decided it was time for the AC car. We took a rickshaw back to the car. He conveniently stopped short so we could buy souvenirs from some crap stand. One kid followed me all the way down to our car trying to get me to buy 4 "marble" necklaces for only 200! Ignoring him did not work. Not only that, I didn't have any small change on me and I wasn't about to be given counterfeit money, a problem at the Taj.
I took some pictures of the Agra Fort as we passed by it. The place was amazingly beautiful and HUGE but I felt like up-chucking so I decided it was not worth the effort. Then I decided that I have to come back when its nice (i.e. not the summer time) and see this all again, with vigour! Rahul kept telling me he didn't want me to regret not doing all this before I leave. Quite honestly, I'd regret dying just to see it. I'm definitely come back and hopefully again this year! Theres just too much here to see in 2 months, even if you were to do nothing but tour the whole time.
I fell asleep in the car and Rahul woke me shortly before an exit where there's a Hare Krishna temple. I thought it was the HUGE statue that we saw coming down. Turns out, that was a different temple. We took pictures of that from the road. He asked me if I wanted to go in and take pictures but I felt it'd be a little disrespectful. He agreed. So we high-tailed it home from that point and stopped off in New Friends Colony (Delhi) to get Pizza Hut, came back to my place, had a quite bite to eat, and then time for bed. The problem is, I am too excited about my day to sleep. So I figured I'd write a blog first and then try to sleep.
Agra was a smelly, extremely dirty town; but it holds such beautiful old charming buildings. I have to come back and visit! And if there's one thing you should do before you die, it's travel to all the world sights that have awe-inspired you during your life. I guarantee you'll be a much happier person for it.
**
On a side note, I got home and someone had been in my apartment rummaging through my dirty laundry. WTF?! Aunty and Uncle kept trying to replace the lock on my door cause they didn't have a key. They said it was for emergencies. I figured they wanted to snoop. Last I checked, going through clothes was not an emergency. How do I know it was done? I distinctly remember placing my black PJ bottoms at the top of the pile while I was getting ready to take a bath. And my undies were in the bottoms. When I got home, everything else was in order but a bunch of my shirts were at the top, the PJ's were down lower part of the basket, and my undies weren't in the bottoms. I can't call Aunty and Uncle out on that cause they would deny it and cause more problems. And while it wouldn't bother me if they wanted to search my room because they're snoops – I have nothing to hide in here – it bothers me that the only thing out of place were my clothes. If this is going to happen every time I leave, I don't want to be here!! What the heck should I do?
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The Things Which Make Life Worth While
I received an e-mail from my dad in regards to my home sickness. It's funny how parents always know what to say to make their children feel better, even as adults! Basically he told me that how I reacted was a cursed family trait and if I needed to, find some place quiet and alone, cry until there was nothing left, then have a good stiff drink, and go back to enjoying my trip. There was also some encouraging words about how he was proud of me and how people he talks to about my journey are jealous of my zeal for traveling to India, alone no less. To be honest, I've never really done anything I felt was worth my Dad being proud of. It feels good to join the ranks of my sisters in his bragging rights!
Yesterday was good.
The weather was perfect (80-85F) with a warm breeze, no dust halo over the city, it was enjoyable! I turned off the AC/fan in my room and opened the door because it was cooler outside than it was in my room. In the afternoon, the home owner's dog, Princess, was outside all alone waiting to be let back inside. Rahul had surprised me and came to visit early so we could go watch the India vs. Australia cricket match at Moets (super nice but chill restaurant in the market here). Princess followed him in to my room when I opened the door because she didn't want to be outside, and wanted to be with someone. Rahul didn't want her in my room, I think he was afraid she'd get dog hair everywhere. Or he's afraid of dogs, not sure which. So I lead her outside with some bread and closed the door and she came back and started knocking/scratching at the door. At first I thought it was Aunty or Uncle so I opened it, and there was Princess, she rushed inside and laid down again by my feet. It reminded me of Sheila, my family dog that passed a few years back. So I left the door open so when the maid came looking for her, they'd find Princess.
Moets has Corona which helped with my home sickness a bit. It's one of the few beers that I actually enjoy! So I ordered one and a bunch of limes and made myself a lime/Corona beer and watched the cricket game until India was starting to loose too bad. Then the staff didn't want to listen to the game so they started playing really loud trance/techno music. Then Rahul's favorite batter struck out fairly early so then we called it a night. When I got dropped off, I fed the stray dogs that live in the alley behind the house. There's an older one and a puppy. The puppy barks too much but it's so cute! That study that says that having a pet or petting an animal helps reduce stress is true. I miss having a dog and getting to interact with three today (and the Corona, and the cool air) really helped my spirits!
Today I'm making Rahul go Geocaching with me. There's one not too far from me that's a micro cache. I've decided I'm going to plant my gnome travel bug in Goa since there's a lot of foreigners there and a lot of caches that are looked after by local people who think this game is a hoot. After we hit the cache here in Delhi, we're going to go shopping. I need some new flip-flops, a pair of heavy dangle earrings since my ears are starting to close up from just wearing studs, and a few new t-shirts if I can find them. The water here is super hard water and it's eating away at my clothes and leaving bad water stains since I don't have a dryer. I look like a half-hobo most days.
Rahul said we're going to wake up super early tomorrow morning and go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. He asked if I wanted to invite Sid and Shweta but I don't think they could get up early enough. Its supposed to be hot tomorrow so I want to get there when it opens at 6am and get it done and over with before I start to melt! Apparently the whole complex is made of marble so it gets super hot, to the point that your feet start to burn. That does not sound like fun to me!
Then again, Agra always seems to be a cursed trip when we make plans to do it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway!
***********
I had ordered an Azalea plant for my mom for Mother's Day. She received it today and said it was absolutely beautiful! I think she felt I was going to forget Mother's Day since I'm half way across the world, but I'd never forget my mother! I bought her a card from the equivalent of Hallmark, here in Delhi. The envelope doesn't self seal so I have to find some glue or tape and then a post office to send it. Hopefully I can get that done today as well!
Love you Mom!!! Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!
Yesterday was good.
The weather was perfect (80-85F) with a warm breeze, no dust halo over the city, it was enjoyable! I turned off the AC/fan in my room and opened the door because it was cooler outside than it was in my room. In the afternoon, the home owner's dog, Princess, was outside all alone waiting to be let back inside. Rahul had surprised me and came to visit early so we could go watch the India vs. Australia cricket match at Moets (super nice but chill restaurant in the market here). Princess followed him in to my room when I opened the door because she didn't want to be outside, and wanted to be with someone. Rahul didn't want her in my room, I think he was afraid she'd get dog hair everywhere. Or he's afraid of dogs, not sure which. So I lead her outside with some bread and closed the door and she came back and started knocking/scratching at the door. At first I thought it was Aunty or Uncle so I opened it, and there was Princess, she rushed inside and laid down again by my feet. It reminded me of Sheila, my family dog that passed a few years back. So I left the door open so when the maid came looking for her, they'd find Princess.
Moets has Corona which helped with my home sickness a bit. It's one of the few beers that I actually enjoy! So I ordered one and a bunch of limes and made myself a lime/Corona beer and watched the cricket game until India was starting to loose too bad. Then the staff didn't want to listen to the game so they started playing really loud trance/techno music. Then Rahul's favorite batter struck out fairly early so then we called it a night. When I got dropped off, I fed the stray dogs that live in the alley behind the house. There's an older one and a puppy. The puppy barks too much but it's so cute! That study that says that having a pet or petting an animal helps reduce stress is true. I miss having a dog and getting to interact with three today (and the Corona, and the cool air) really helped my spirits!
Today I'm making Rahul go Geocaching with me. There's one not too far from me that's a micro cache. I've decided I'm going to plant my gnome travel bug in Goa since there's a lot of foreigners there and a lot of caches that are looked after by local people who think this game is a hoot. After we hit the cache here in Delhi, we're going to go shopping. I need some new flip-flops, a pair of heavy dangle earrings since my ears are starting to close up from just wearing studs, and a few new t-shirts if I can find them. The water here is super hard water and it's eating away at my clothes and leaving bad water stains since I don't have a dryer. I look like a half-hobo most days.
Rahul said we're going to wake up super early tomorrow morning and go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. He asked if I wanted to invite Sid and Shweta but I don't think they could get up early enough. Its supposed to be hot tomorrow so I want to get there when it opens at 6am and get it done and over with before I start to melt! Apparently the whole complex is made of marble so it gets super hot, to the point that your feet start to burn. That does not sound like fun to me!
Then again, Agra always seems to be a cursed trip when we make plans to do it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway!
***********
I had ordered an Azalea plant for my mom for Mother's Day. She received it today and said it was absolutely beautiful! I think she felt I was going to forget Mother's Day since I'm half way across the world, but I'd never forget my mother! I bought her a card from the equivalent of Hallmark, here in Delhi. The envelope doesn't self seal so I have to find some glue or tape and then a post office to send it. Hopefully I can get that done today as well!
Love you Mom!!! Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Home Sick Blues
Yesterday should have been a good day. Somehow, it went all wrong. Actually it wasn't “somehow”, I know what caused this feeling. I just want to reverse 30 hours and try it again.
I woke up grumpy and stayed grumpy almost the entire day. That was mistake number one. Rahul took a break from work to come get me and take me to Karuna's house. She had picked out some of her jewelry to let me borrow for the upcoming wedding as it didn't make sense for me to go out and buy my own for one day. Also, her tailor would be able to stitch the blouse for my saree and have it done by this weekend. It should have been a fun trip, but I was already in a grumpy mood. When Rahul came to pick me up, I saw he was too. Two grumpy people do not make for a fun day. I tried to inform him before we left Defence Colony that I wasn't feeling up to par, and he asked if we should cancel and reschedule. I wanted to just get it done and over so I said no but asked if we could stop to get coffee since that always seems to make me feel better back home. For some reason, I just wanted to cry and I could feel it boiling up inside me, like a geyser set to go off at any moment.
Mistake number two was not putting my foot down sooner rather than later, or not keeping my mouth completely shut about the coffee. The market was on the other side of where he wanted to go in Defence Colony, but it was a lot closer in terms of distance and time than trying to find one along the way. It wasn't until we got to Karuna's area of Delhi that I firmly requested that we stop for coffee before actually meeting Karuna. Since I was pretty adamant about it, Rahul searched and searched and we couldn't find a place that sold coffee. At that point I was willing to settle for chai but I didn't voice those sentiments (mistake three) and let him drive all over creation trying to find a coffee shop. I didn't think coffee wouldn't be that scarce but apparently it is in certain areas of Delhi. Rahul had located a shopping complex that he said might have coffee. Now at this point I was just frustrated beyond belief. I'm sure Rahul was too. So, we parked the car. He has long legs and I have short stubbins so I'm always two or three paces behind him. Usually it doesn't bother me and when it does, I ask him to slow down. Normally it's if we're in a larger market or it's late at night and I don't feel safe walking alone. Since we were in a hurry, I let him walk ahead. However, he turned around and (what I felt) barked at me to keep up to his walking at a million miles an hour. I lost it at that point.
Tears were slowly streaming down my face and I was trying my damnedest to keep it together. Whenever I cry, my eyes turn red like pot smoker's eyes and my nose becomes similar to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. For the sake of this trip, I had to hold it together. But it kept getting worse. No matter how hard I tried to not cry, the tears forced their way out.
He found a place which he said would have coffee, and wouldn't take “No let's just go” for an answer. I gave him money for the coffee and went to the bathroom to make sure my makeup wasn't smudged and try to compose myself in private. When I thought I did, he was standing there waiting for me, without the coffee. Apparently they didn't have coffee. He (again, what I felt) barked at me for the change he had given me so I could get my 50 Rupee note back. Then I lost it. I gave him the money and again went to the bathroom. I was beyond trying to hold it together then.
I'm not the type of person that likes to share my problems with others. I certainly don't like being the crazy person on display in public. Yesterday, I was that crazy person.
We left the store, he again was walking ahead and then his phone rang. He was so immersed in his conversation he didn't stop to make sure I was with him as he crossed the street which he normally does. People in India don't stop for you. You, as a pedestrian, have to stop for them. Since he was so far ahead, I had to make it myself and I walked up to the corner so I could see all traffic and cross it without feeling like I would be run over at any second. It took me a good 2 or so minutes to catch up to him. He was already in the car with it running and ready to leave. At that point I was too hysterical and asked him to just drop me off at the metro or take me home because I certainly was not in a position to see his friend. He refused, we got into an argument, which made me cry more (ie bawl my eyes out). He wanted to know why I didn't get coffee before he came to pick me up. Which, I would have if he wouldn't have called to say he was 5 minutes away but was really 30. It became a back-and-forth “You said” “Well, you did...” "You could have..." "I would have if..."
He drove to Karuna's house where she was waiting for us and he made me come in. I tried SO hard to not cry but the situation really wasn't helping. I always need a bit of time to calm down and collect myself. I can't turn my composure on and off like the flip of a light switch.
Problem number four was allowing issues to compound. Anyone that truly knows me, knows that I don't like asking for help, I really don't like receiving help, and I have this “thing” about needing to be my own self. I'm stubborn and not submissive at all, and it takes a lot to not be that way. I know Karuna was offering to help out of the kindness of her heart, but with my other issues, I really didn't want to be a part of figured out what to dress up with for the wedding. I wasn't paying attention to what she said half the time, so I was lost. Therefore I wasn't able to collectively collaborate with her like I should have. Instead, it felt like she was telling me what I should do/wear. That made me really not want to pay attention (me being stubborn). After I “broke down” and accepted the jewelry she offered to let me borrow, we went to the market a block from her house to find the tailor to stitch my blouse and shirts. While trying to discuss the blouse for my saree, it didn't seem like what I had envisioned was what she deemed appropriate and then I again became upset.
Why couldn't I get this done back at Defence Colony? At least then I could do it my way. I wanted it my way, not some body else's way. I don't want to be completely Indian, I want to just be me. I had still been on the verge of crying before so the tears (completely childish, I know) came out again. Instead of making a scene at the tailor, I tried to leave to again compose myself. I figured she had decided what I should/shouldn't wear so I didn't need to be there. However, you're never TRULY alone in India. Some little boy saw me crying and I think he kept asking me why I was upset/crying but he was speaking in Hindi so I dunno if that was true or not. He definitely had concern on his face. And him following me around drew other people's attention. Way to not make a spectacle of myself! Rahul came over to me and told me we needed to finish by taking measurements, there was no point in leaving now, so I did even though it was hard for me to not cry at that point.
After the tailor she had to go back home so she said goodbye and we left. He apologized later for “yelling at me and being rude at the tailor” but in retrospect, I deserved it along with a bitch slap from Karuna (which she didn't do but I still deserve nonetheless). The problem of feeling like Karuna was overbearing about the outfit was kind of Rahul's fault. He had told her that I wanted to blend in as much as possible so she was pulling out all the stops. Since I wanted to wear a saree, he figured that was the case. Really, I wanted to be me in a saree which was my fault for not making clear from the beginning. There was a lack of communication between the two of us to her.
Once I was able to cool down, I apologized to Rahul for my actions. I don't think he listened to me too much. The good guy that he is, I think he's still convinced that he did something wrong. I have to figure out a way to make up my actions to Karuna. She really really didn't deserve nor should she had to have put up with my behavior.
I tried my hardest to figure out why it all went so wrong, and it's stupid and silly but at the same time is making me home sick.
In India, there are 10 people doing the equivalent of one person's job back in the US. Add to it the fact that I'm not India so I NEED help, it's too much “interference” psychologically. For the most part, while I've been here, I've figured things out for my self. I don't ride the rickshaws because what's the point of haggling if I can save the money and just walk? If it's too far to walk, then it's not worth seeing. Then there's the issue of being out alone at night vs the heat in the day, I'd rather avoid all problems all together. I seek out places which have price stickers so I can shop for myself without worrying about someone else making the shopping decisions for me or trying to charge me more than it's worth since I don't speak Hindi. I've been trying to lead an independent lifestyle in a country that values community and interdependency. It's me who has the problem that has to be corrected, not them. There's nothing wrong with community support, but I'm not used to it.
I wouldn't be so homesick if I could enjoy the place I'm at, problems and all. For the most part I have, but I fear that now that the homesickness has started, it will grow out of control. And quite honestly, it's a stupid reason to be homesick. I miss my family and friends but that's not reason I'm feeling homesick. I'm such a baby. So today, I'm picking myself up, dusting myself off, and trying this community thing again. This time, without the tears. Maybe I'll try to haggle a rickshaw ride from the market to home? It's a little late to try such things but it should be done sooner rather than later.
I woke up grumpy and stayed grumpy almost the entire day. That was mistake number one. Rahul took a break from work to come get me and take me to Karuna's house. She had picked out some of her jewelry to let me borrow for the upcoming wedding as it didn't make sense for me to go out and buy my own for one day. Also, her tailor would be able to stitch the blouse for my saree and have it done by this weekend. It should have been a fun trip, but I was already in a grumpy mood. When Rahul came to pick me up, I saw he was too. Two grumpy people do not make for a fun day. I tried to inform him before we left Defence Colony that I wasn't feeling up to par, and he asked if we should cancel and reschedule. I wanted to just get it done and over so I said no but asked if we could stop to get coffee since that always seems to make me feel better back home. For some reason, I just wanted to cry and I could feel it boiling up inside me, like a geyser set to go off at any moment.
Mistake number two was not putting my foot down sooner rather than later, or not keeping my mouth completely shut about the coffee. The market was on the other side of where he wanted to go in Defence Colony, but it was a lot closer in terms of distance and time than trying to find one along the way. It wasn't until we got to Karuna's area of Delhi that I firmly requested that we stop for coffee before actually meeting Karuna. Since I was pretty adamant about it, Rahul searched and searched and we couldn't find a place that sold coffee. At that point I was willing to settle for chai but I didn't voice those sentiments (mistake three) and let him drive all over creation trying to find a coffee shop. I didn't think coffee wouldn't be that scarce but apparently it is in certain areas of Delhi. Rahul had located a shopping complex that he said might have coffee. Now at this point I was just frustrated beyond belief. I'm sure Rahul was too. So, we parked the car. He has long legs and I have short stubbins so I'm always two or three paces behind him. Usually it doesn't bother me and when it does, I ask him to slow down. Normally it's if we're in a larger market or it's late at night and I don't feel safe walking alone. Since we were in a hurry, I let him walk ahead. However, he turned around and (what I felt) barked at me to keep up to his walking at a million miles an hour. I lost it at that point.
Tears were slowly streaming down my face and I was trying my damnedest to keep it together. Whenever I cry, my eyes turn red like pot smoker's eyes and my nose becomes similar to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. For the sake of this trip, I had to hold it together. But it kept getting worse. No matter how hard I tried to not cry, the tears forced their way out.
He found a place which he said would have coffee, and wouldn't take “No let's just go” for an answer. I gave him money for the coffee and went to the bathroom to make sure my makeup wasn't smudged and try to compose myself in private. When I thought I did, he was standing there waiting for me, without the coffee. Apparently they didn't have coffee. He (again, what I felt) barked at me for the change he had given me so I could get my 50 Rupee note back. Then I lost it. I gave him the money and again went to the bathroom. I was beyond trying to hold it together then.
I'm not the type of person that likes to share my problems with others. I certainly don't like being the crazy person on display in public. Yesterday, I was that crazy person.
We left the store, he again was walking ahead and then his phone rang. He was so immersed in his conversation he didn't stop to make sure I was with him as he crossed the street which he normally does. People in India don't stop for you. You, as a pedestrian, have to stop for them. Since he was so far ahead, I had to make it myself and I walked up to the corner so I could see all traffic and cross it without feeling like I would be run over at any second. It took me a good 2 or so minutes to catch up to him. He was already in the car with it running and ready to leave. At that point I was too hysterical and asked him to just drop me off at the metro or take me home because I certainly was not in a position to see his friend. He refused, we got into an argument, which made me cry more (ie bawl my eyes out). He wanted to know why I didn't get coffee before he came to pick me up. Which, I would have if he wouldn't have called to say he was 5 minutes away but was really 30. It became a back-and-forth “You said” “Well, you did...” "You could have..." "I would have if..."
He drove to Karuna's house where she was waiting for us and he made me come in. I tried SO hard to not cry but the situation really wasn't helping. I always need a bit of time to calm down and collect myself. I can't turn my composure on and off like the flip of a light switch.
Problem number four was allowing issues to compound. Anyone that truly knows me, knows that I don't like asking for help, I really don't like receiving help, and I have this “thing” about needing to be my own self. I'm stubborn and not submissive at all, and it takes a lot to not be that way. I know Karuna was offering to help out of the kindness of her heart, but with my other issues, I really didn't want to be a part of figured out what to dress up with for the wedding. I wasn't paying attention to what she said half the time, so I was lost. Therefore I wasn't able to collectively collaborate with her like I should have. Instead, it felt like she was telling me what I should do/wear. That made me really not want to pay attention (me being stubborn). After I “broke down” and accepted the jewelry she offered to let me borrow, we went to the market a block from her house to find the tailor to stitch my blouse and shirts. While trying to discuss the blouse for my saree, it didn't seem like what I had envisioned was what she deemed appropriate and then I again became upset.
Why couldn't I get this done back at Defence Colony? At least then I could do it my way. I wanted it my way, not some body else's way. I don't want to be completely Indian, I want to just be me. I had still been on the verge of crying before so the tears (completely childish, I know) came out again. Instead of making a scene at the tailor, I tried to leave to again compose myself. I figured she had decided what I should/shouldn't wear so I didn't need to be there. However, you're never TRULY alone in India. Some little boy saw me crying and I think he kept asking me why I was upset/crying but he was speaking in Hindi so I dunno if that was true or not. He definitely had concern on his face. And him following me around drew other people's attention. Way to not make a spectacle of myself! Rahul came over to me and told me we needed to finish by taking measurements, there was no point in leaving now, so I did even though it was hard for me to not cry at that point.
After the tailor she had to go back home so she said goodbye and we left. He apologized later for “yelling at me and being rude at the tailor” but in retrospect, I deserved it along with a bitch slap from Karuna (which she didn't do but I still deserve nonetheless). The problem of feeling like Karuna was overbearing about the outfit was kind of Rahul's fault. He had told her that I wanted to blend in as much as possible so she was pulling out all the stops. Since I wanted to wear a saree, he figured that was the case. Really, I wanted to be me in a saree which was my fault for not making clear from the beginning. There was a lack of communication between the two of us to her.
Once I was able to cool down, I apologized to Rahul for my actions. I don't think he listened to me too much. The good guy that he is, I think he's still convinced that he did something wrong. I have to figure out a way to make up my actions to Karuna. She really really didn't deserve nor should she had to have put up with my behavior.
I tried my hardest to figure out why it all went so wrong, and it's stupid and silly but at the same time is making me home sick.
In India, there are 10 people doing the equivalent of one person's job back in the US. Add to it the fact that I'm not India so I NEED help, it's too much “interference” psychologically. For the most part, while I've been here, I've figured things out for my self. I don't ride the rickshaws because what's the point of haggling if I can save the money and just walk? If it's too far to walk, then it's not worth seeing. Then there's the issue of being out alone at night vs the heat in the day, I'd rather avoid all problems all together. I seek out places which have price stickers so I can shop for myself without worrying about someone else making the shopping decisions for me or trying to charge me more than it's worth since I don't speak Hindi. I've been trying to lead an independent lifestyle in a country that values community and interdependency. It's me who has the problem that has to be corrected, not them. There's nothing wrong with community support, but I'm not used to it.
I wouldn't be so homesick if I could enjoy the place I'm at, problems and all. For the most part I have, but I fear that now that the homesickness has started, it will grow out of control. And quite honestly, it's a stupid reason to be homesick. I miss my family and friends but that's not reason I'm feeling homesick. I'm such a baby. So today, I'm picking myself up, dusting myself off, and trying this community thing again. This time, without the tears. Maybe I'll try to haggle a rickshaw ride from the market to home? It's a little late to try such things but it should be done sooner rather than later.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes In the Weather
This weekend we had planned to go to Agra. Once again, I think the plans fell through. I saw the weather report and thought it'd be too hot so I decided staying in Delhi would be better. Then we could go shopping! Turns out, the weather is doing a very peculiar thing. Possibly normal to India, but not to a Pacific Northwesterner. We, the people of the Pacific NW, are used to change. There's a saying, “If you don't like the weather report, give it 10 minutes cause it will change.” (I think that saying is true everywhere but we like to use it a lot.) Here, the weather has been pretty constant. The weather is always hot. That's what time of year it is. It's hot now and in July, the monsoons start. India has three seasons: Heat, Rain, Mixture of both. ;-)
So today Rahul came to pick me up. I had just checked my e-mail and received another security alert from the US Embassy. I told Rahul about it but he ignored it. We went to Barista to grab a coffee. While we were talking about the differences in education between the US and India, Rahul received a call from his mother. Apparently because all the national embassies were sending out warnings, the Delhi Police decided to amp up their security as a precaution. It was all over the news. To Indians, it's not a big deal until their own government says it is. Apparently the Delhi Police are so hush-hush about everything, that if they're saying to stay out of the markets, SPECIFIC markets even, then it means something's going on.
Our attention shifted from schools to where to go. We were planning on going to a market or two. I was in favor of going to a mall but Rahul said that the terrorist activities in Delhi usually try to hit a mall but never succeed, a mall would not be a good place. So what to do? He suggest visiting the stores in South Extension (South Ex) as it's not really a market but not a mall. Sid and Shweta came to Barista and suggested a movie. We weren't in the mood to see a movie. I hate movie theaters and I wanted to go shopping. Then Rahul's friend, Karuna had called. She wanted to meet up and would be in South Ex shopping for a Saree. Perfect! We parted with Sid and Shweta, who went to the movie.
Rahul and I met up with Karuna at a store called “Nalli” where they sell cloth to make Sarees, Salwar Kameez, basically any Indian clothing style. Karuna asked me what color I wanted for a saree to which I replied, “A darker blue.”
She asked a clerk to show them. And there it was! An almost near identical match to the saree I wore in my dream a few days back. I had to have it! It's a beautiful navy blue with gold embellishments! Now what's crazy is this dream. I don't remember all of it, just that I tried on this beautiful blue saree at a shop ...I think it had a redish carpet and I was standing on a platform...in front of Rahul and one of Rahul's friends.
I'm not sure who she was, so we'll see in the coming weeks. I have to take the cloth to a tailor to have a shirt and petticoat made to wear under the saree as it is a very sheer fabric. I plan to wear this for the wedding I'm going to in the coming weeks. Beautiful fabric, isn't it?
In addition to the saree, Karuna took us upstairs to see fabric for making kurtis. A kurta is a shirt that's worn with Indian style pants, or jeans. I went through all the cotton fabrics they had and found four which caught my eye:
The blue paisley and salmon color fabrics will be worn with a cream colored bottom and matching dupatta. The white will be worn with black bottoms and my black dupatta. The purple with gold trim will be worn with jeans (we couldn't decide on any of the colors they had to match with the top). I paid about $60 for all of it and having it stitched should cost about $20, or so I hope. Karuna said she has a tailor who will stitch everything and have it all ready within a week. We're to go there some time this week to have it done. I'm really excited! I get to have clothes made...just for me! It's considered the cheap alternative to buying clothes already made (labels vs. non-labels) but I'd prefer to have a non-label that fits. No labels were fitting so I'm excited to have Indian clothing which fits! Only took a month of being here. The right people make all the difference!
After shopping, we went to Cafe Coffee Day to get a drink. While we were there, it started to rain. Within a matter of minutes, the clouds literally came and started to pour with thunder and lightening. The past couple nights it's been doing this, so I wasn't surprised. While it's raining, it's quite nice. After, it's muggy and sucks. Rahul and I made the mutual decision to just go to Agra tomorrow as it'd be somewhat pleasant, and to get it out of the way. On one hand, I'm extremely excited to see the Taj Mahal and all of it's glorious romantic beauty. On the other, I think the trip is cursed so it puts me off...
Sid and Rahul dropped Shweta and myself to my apartment so they could go get a suitcase from a relative. The car wouldn't start. Son-of-a... They thought it might be out of gas so they went to get gas but the car still wouldn't start. So Rahul, Sid, and I pushed the car out of it's parking spot. Sid jumped into the drivers seat and Rahul and I pushed the car until it started, half way down the block. Thank goodness for being a manual! However, that means Rahul's car is going in to the shop tomorrow; which means no Agra.
This is what I mean by the trip being cursed.
Rahul asked me how badly I wanted to go see the Taj Mahal. I told him how badly I wanted to see it. His response was, “So you want to see it as much as I want to show it to you?” Yep, pretty much.
He promised “hell or high water” we'd see the Taj Mahal before I leave. We only have two more weekends before we're out of options, unless I find a way to stay here longer. Which reminds me, I've been considering extending my trip a month. I think it would be fiscally feasible and would give me more of a chance to enjoy India. We'll see if it's possible or just a dream.
**Goa tickets have been booked. We're going to Goa and Hampi. I'm going to skip Mumbai since I've been told there's really nothing special there. I'd love to see the elephant caves which is off the coast of Mumbai but we don't really have the time. Not only that, I've decided that regardless if I stay and extra month or not, I WILL be visiting India again, soon. I just have to figure out a way to do it (=
This place is too amazing and I love it too much to want to leave. I wish the Mumbai attacks hadn't happened, then I could do a visa run and stay here for 10 years; or I could get a job without all the rules and regulation.
So today Rahul came to pick me up. I had just checked my e-mail and received another security alert from the US Embassy. I told Rahul about it but he ignored it. We went to Barista to grab a coffee. While we were talking about the differences in education between the US and India, Rahul received a call from his mother. Apparently because all the national embassies were sending out warnings, the Delhi Police decided to amp up their security as a precaution. It was all over the news. To Indians, it's not a big deal until their own government says it is. Apparently the Delhi Police are so hush-hush about everything, that if they're saying to stay out of the markets, SPECIFIC markets even, then it means something's going on.
Our attention shifted from schools to where to go. We were planning on going to a market or two. I was in favor of going to a mall but Rahul said that the terrorist activities in Delhi usually try to hit a mall but never succeed, a mall would not be a good place. So what to do? He suggest visiting the stores in South Extension (South Ex) as it's not really a market but not a mall. Sid and Shweta came to Barista and suggested a movie. We weren't in the mood to see a movie. I hate movie theaters and I wanted to go shopping. Then Rahul's friend, Karuna had called. She wanted to meet up and would be in South Ex shopping for a Saree. Perfect! We parted with Sid and Shweta, who went to the movie.
Rahul and I met up with Karuna at a store called “Nalli” where they sell cloth to make Sarees, Salwar Kameez, basically any Indian clothing style. Karuna asked me what color I wanted for a saree to which I replied, “A darker blue.”
She asked a clerk to show them. And there it was! An almost near identical match to the saree I wore in my dream a few days back. I had to have it! It's a beautiful navy blue with gold embellishments! Now what's crazy is this dream. I don't remember all of it, just that I tried on this beautiful blue saree at a shop ...I think it had a redish carpet and I was standing on a platform...in front of Rahul and one of Rahul's friends.
I'm not sure who she was, so we'll see in the coming weeks. I have to take the cloth to a tailor to have a shirt and petticoat made to wear under the saree as it is a very sheer fabric. I plan to wear this for the wedding I'm going to in the coming weeks. Beautiful fabric, isn't it?In addition to the saree, Karuna took us upstairs to see fabric for making kurtis. A kurta is a shirt that's worn with Indian style pants, or jeans. I went through all the cotton fabrics they had and found four which caught my eye:
The blue paisley and salmon color fabrics will be worn with a cream colored bottom and matching dupatta. The white will be worn with black bottoms and my black dupatta. The purple with gold trim will be worn with jeans (we couldn't decide on any of the colors they had to match with the top). I paid about $60 for all of it and having it stitched should cost about $20, or so I hope. Karuna said she has a tailor who will stitch everything and have it all ready within a week. We're to go there some time this week to have it done. I'm really excited! I get to have clothes made...just for me! It's considered the cheap alternative to buying clothes already made (labels vs. non-labels) but I'd prefer to have a non-label that fits. No labels were fitting so I'm excited to have Indian clothing which fits! Only took a month of being here. The right people make all the difference!
After shopping, we went to Cafe Coffee Day to get a drink. While we were there, it started to rain. Within a matter of minutes, the clouds literally came and started to pour with thunder and lightening. The past couple nights it's been doing this, so I wasn't surprised. While it's raining, it's quite nice. After, it's muggy and sucks. Rahul and I made the mutual decision to just go to Agra tomorrow as it'd be somewhat pleasant, and to get it out of the way. On one hand, I'm extremely excited to see the Taj Mahal and all of it's glorious romantic beauty. On the other, I think the trip is cursed so it puts me off...
Sid and Rahul dropped Shweta and myself to my apartment so they could go get a suitcase from a relative. The car wouldn't start. Son-of-a... They thought it might be out of gas so they went to get gas but the car still wouldn't start. So Rahul, Sid, and I pushed the car out of it's parking spot. Sid jumped into the drivers seat and Rahul and I pushed the car until it started, half way down the block. Thank goodness for being a manual! However, that means Rahul's car is going in to the shop tomorrow; which means no Agra.
This is what I mean by the trip being cursed.
Rahul asked me how badly I wanted to go see the Taj Mahal. I told him how badly I wanted to see it. His response was, “So you want to see it as much as I want to show it to you?” Yep, pretty much.
He promised “hell or high water” we'd see the Taj Mahal before I leave. We only have two more weekends before we're out of options, unless I find a way to stay here longer. Which reminds me, I've been considering extending my trip a month. I think it would be fiscally feasible and would give me more of a chance to enjoy India. We'll see if it's possible or just a dream.
**Goa tickets have been booked. We're going to Goa and Hampi. I'm going to skip Mumbai since I've been told there's really nothing special there. I'd love to see the elephant caves which is off the coast of Mumbai but we don't really have the time. Not only that, I've decided that regardless if I stay and extra month or not, I WILL be visiting India again, soon. I just have to figure out a way to do it (=
This place is too amazing and I love it too much to want to leave. I wish the Mumbai attacks hadn't happened, then I could do a visa run and stay here for 10 years; or I could get a job without all the rules and regulation.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Weekend in Rishikesh
We left for Rishikesh at 5:30PM on Friday. It was an adventure! Sid and Shweta picked me up in their cab. Then we were dropped off at the Metro somewhere in Delhi, took it to Noida where Rahul was working/waiting for us. From there, around 6:30PM, we set off for Rishikesh and camping. The drive was long, but Sid and Shweta were in good spirits and they kept the ride entertaining. We zoomed the 200 or so kilometers to Rishikesh where we met up with our guides. They had us walk across the Ganges (there's a bridge) to where a Jeep taxi was waiting to take us up the mountains to where we would be camping for the night.
The ride was like the Indian Jones ride at Disneyland. It was freaking awesome! We were turning left/right and all over the place. It was pitch black so we couldn't see beyond the lights. I remember one Indian Jones movie, "The Temple of Doom" was to take place in India. Great! We landed safely to the campsite. Had to trek down a huge steep hill to the tents. Indian camping is WAY different than the camping I'm used to. I didn't bring anything besides my phone because I figured we wouldn't have electricity, or toilets. The tents were furnished with two cots and a bathroom (toilet, sink, shower w/bucket and mug. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! (website for the camp)
We had arrived at the campsite around 2:30AM so we all quickly changed for bed and fell asleep. We had to get up around 7:30 to move to our actual location and go rafting.
When we woke up...this was the beauty that we hadn't had the chance to witness the previous night:
It was amazing! The birds were chirping, there was no horns honking every two seconds, no smell of pollution, just wilderness. Beautiful wilderness!
So we hiked back up the hill to meet the car that would take us to our campsite. Apparently the one we were at had a large group coming in later that day so they wanted to give us a more “exclusive” camp where we could have undivided attention from the staff and more privacy. It wasn't too far away and while I wouldn't describe the new camp as being as picturesque at the first, it did have it's own unique charm. (Other Camp's Website) The staff was also extremely helpful and would help us out whenever we asked for something without showing any disdain.
After we settled our bags in, a taxi was waiting for us to take us to Rishikesh so we could go rafting. The taxi-walla was an older gentleman and judging by his driving, he drives the mountain road regularly. Speaking of which, the road in the day time is a lot less fun than the road at night. You can see how far down the car could fall and the lack of safety features built into the road. Not only that, but the seat belts in the back of the cars (everywhere in India) never are used or missing.
We made it to Rishikesh and met with a guy who would take us across the Ganges to another car which would take us back up the mountain on the other side to go rafting. There's a lack of vehicular bridges across the Ganges up the mountain so you have to go all the way down to town (15 +/- kilometers) and walk across the foot bridges to the other side. While on the middle of the Ganges, I stopped to take a picture. Ooops! All the people selling stuff saw that and realized I was a tourist and started asking me if I'd like to buy stuff. Random crap too.
We made it to the Jeep, drove up the mountain (almost to where the campsite was) and got ready for our trip rafting. No one but myself had ever been rafting. Sid and Rahul never learned to swim so I was a little hesitant about the rafting trip. I think they were at first but that quickly changed for them. Shortly after we took off, we came up to our first set of rapids. They were small, mostly to get everyone's blood flowing. And boy oh boy did it get the boy's adrenaline going! Then came the second set of rapids. The guide wanted everyone to stand up on the edge of the boat while floating. I refused but Sid, Shweta, and Rahul stood up. And then Rahul and Sid fell into the water. Rahul tried taking me down with him. I was holding on to him at first but realized he was pulling me in so I let him fall hehehe
The fourth rapids were the worst. The boat tilted to the side and Rahul and I fell in. I wasn't expecting it, it came out of no where and I didn't have a chance to take a deep breath before going under. And the water was pushing me everywhere. I was trying really hard to kick my feet and swim up but the damn oar....I was still holding on to the oar! So I let go and managed to make my way up to the top. I felt the boat hit my head and I tried to grab on to the “lifeline” rope. And out of nowhere, as soon as I got up, I was pushed back under by another set of waves. Then I got back up and starting grasping for air because the 10 or so seconds that I was under water, felt like an eternity and I didn't know if there would be another wave again. Then all of a sudden the guide started pulling me up. But my pants were falling off but he wouldn't let go. He just kept pulling. The life vest was wedged in between my two front teeth and then I was landed safely in the boat...kind of. I was stuck in between the two seats of the raft. It took a while to get myself unstuck. Apparently when Rahul and I fell off, Sid and Shweta automatically went to our side of the raft to help us and it made the boat unstable. Shweta got stuck in between the seats too. Everyone got banged up a bit from the rapids. I was cold, wet, and slightly miserable. Life vests are a necessity but they get heavy when wet and my chest gets in the damn way every time. I learned it from rafting down the Deschutes so I was trying my best to not go into the water to prevent that scene but it happened anyway.
When the water was calm, the other three (mainly Sid) would jump out the boat and “swim”. Dude that guy was having a blast in the water! Then Shweta would jump out and join him. Those two would carry on and have fun. Rahul even joined them at one point. The guide asked me if I wanted to join him but I politely declined. I had enough “fun” in the water and didn't want to have to go through getting back in the boat again.
When we got to Rishikesh, the guide dropped us off at a spot on the Ganges where we could walk up to a market and find our way to our car (where we left it the previous night). The market was amazing.
I guess I should tell you a bit about the Ganges and Rishikesh first before I go into too much detail...
The Ganges (Ganga) River is a holy river in India. Hindus believe that the river was formed by Lord Shiva to help cleanse humans and fertilize the land. It also is supposed to carry the blessings from Lord Vishnu. Hindus believe that if you bath in the water, you will be cleaned and blessed. (Side Note: I fell in the water and was bathed by the holy Ganga, I'm officially blessed!) If you're sick, you should drink the water so the medicinal properties of the Ganga will help heal. Apparently for some odd reason, it fights off certain bacterial diseases. It's also one of the most polluted rivers in the world. I guess that's what happens when you have a bunch of people bathing in the water. The further down the river you go, the more polluted it becomes. Rishikesh is a combination of like five small cities and is considered a holy site. It's where the Ganga leaves the Himalayas and starts it's decent into the Ganga basin. There are a lot of ashrams and yoga centers in the area. Hindu pilgrims and tourists alike flock to this place. I saw plenty of white people...mostly hippies.
So while we were walking through the market, I was admiring the simplicity of the place. Everywhere you are, you can hear bells ringing from the temples. There's on in particular that I found fascinating and it was dedicated to Lord Shiva. Every floor has a series of bells (all outside) and from what I could witness, people would walk around the building and ring the bells. It was like a bunch of Catholic church bells going off at random times. Very spiritual. While we were buying water, very very dark or black guy, I think based on the staff in his hand, was dressed like Lord Shiva and spotted me and came towards me. I think it was to ask for money. It freaked me out more than anything so I quickly grabbed Rahul and walked away. I've heard stories of people being “cursed” by weird people like that so I was trying to stay away from him. In hindsight, I should have asked Rahul to ask the guy if I could take a picture with him so you could see how crazy he looked. It would have been worth the money. I also saw another black guy walking through the market with religious attire on. I wish I would have had my money with me so I could buy something from there. It was too magical. Oh and I also made them stop to find Aloe Vera for my sunburn which I had received over the course of the day. Nice huh?
We made our way to the car and drove back to the camp. I took pictures along the way. I got some decent shots of Rishikesh from the mountains, and also of the MONKEYS! I was so excited to see the monkeys. Then Shweta started telling me horror stories about them. How one bit her leg when she was younger and had to get 9 shots and a bunch of stitches. Then Sid joined in about how one type of monkey will grab stuff from you and they 'hit on' females. I don't think any of them like monkeys. While I'm not in the mood to be bit and hit on, I do find them cute.
We got to the campsite after driving WAAAAY past it. From there I applied a bunch of the Aloe Vera cream on my arms. The three of them were way worried about my burn so they made me to lay down in front of the cooler in my tent. Coolers are like gigantic fans that you can put water in the bottom of so it spits out cool air. I like them more than A/Cs. After I fell asleep, Rahul came in with ice to rub on my arms because they were so crazy hot. I fell back asleep and woke shortly before dinner. The campsite guys had built a fire for us. We all sat around the fire talking, we were brought out snacks to eat before dinner (pakoras and some other crazy dish consisting of mostly onions). Then they decided they wanted to play charades. So we did that for a couple rounds. I'm not the best at charades but I think I do pretty decent. However, there's a HUGE difference between cultures which came to light while playing. Rahul and I were a team, Sid and Shweta were a team. Rahul had to act out “Madagascar” as we were doing movies. He broke it up into three parts, “Mad” “Gas” and “Car”. Any time I would get something right, he apparently was motioning that I was right but I thought he was saying “keep going, it's along that lines”... He was hoping that if I understood “Gas” and “Car”, that it would make sense. Really, all I understood from him was “Car”. Sid and Shweta wanted him to act out “Mad” ...and it came time for him to do that since I had no idea where he was going. So he started jumping around like a crazy person then slapped me! HE SLAPPED ME! I was stunned. What the heck?! Sid kept telling him that the word he was acting out means something different to Americans. So I thought he was handicapped, retarded, mental, crazy. That's how he was acting. I wasn't getting it so he gave up. Then Sid said he would do it to show the difference.
First he did “Car” since I got that right. Secondly he did “Gas”. It clicked! Rahul was using two hands to put the gas-pump in the car and it looked (to me) as if he was trying to shovel dirt. Sid used one hand and I got it. Then he acted out “Mad”. Instead of being crazy, he was pretending to yell. It made sense. After a few seconds, I was able to put the three together “Madagascar!”
I laughed so hard when they started talking about the differences. Sid was trying to explain to Rahul that Americans don't really think of “mad” as “crazy”, more of “angry” and then then that we Americans use one hand to pump gas, not two. I think Rahul was frustrated that I wasn't understanding his charades but I had forewarned him that it wasn't going to end well. After our game, we ate dinner and went to bed. I was exhausted even though I had a couple hours nap. I laid down on my bed and passed out with the cooler over my arms.
Next morning we woke up, had breakfast, packed, and left to go to a waterfall. My arms were still hurting so I wasn't in any mood to trek. Apparently there was a waterfall not to far away that wouldn't require a lot of walking. When we got to it, it wasn't much of a waterfall and a bunch of guys had just landed to go swimming. We were going to scrap the idea and just head home but Shweta really wanted to go to a waterfall. So we stopped and asked a roadside stand group of people if there were any waterfalls nearby. There was the one we saw. One across the street up a VERY steep hill, about 25 minutes walk in pure sunlight, and one that was a 2 hour trek but an amazingly HUGE waterfall. However, it was full of nothing but foreigners apparently. So after some discussion, they decided to go into town and apparently some city on the way back to Delhi had a waterfall to stop at. A short while down the road, we spotted the Ganga and a road leading down to it. Perfect! We parked the car and walked down to the river. There was a spot that was near the rapids but was surrounded by rocks so it wasn't fast, more of a pool. I put on one of Sid's shirts to protect my arms from the sun and we spent a good hour or so playing in the water. Really Sid and Shweta played in the water. Sid wanted to go swimming but I pleaded that they don't because the current was too fast beyond a certain point and we didn't have life vests. Sid and Shweta made their way out of the water after a little bit of time to the sand bank and decided to cover each other's feet in sand. Rahul and I found some rocks to sit on, dip our feet in the water, and watch the rafters go by.
About an hour later we decided to head out. Back to Delhi. There was a diversion and it took us an extra 30km. We passed through some city where a teenage boy made some lewd expressions to Shweta as we were driving slowly through traffic. Sid got angry when she told him. Almost ran the car into the boy, got out of the car and almost beat him. After yelling at him, they (Sid and Rahul) got back into the car and we drove off. Apparently it was a very heavily populated Muslim town. Riots break out over stuff like that otherwise he would have punched the kid a few times. The kid was scared shitless until he realized his parents were nearby. If I could have, I would have punched him myself. It was my first encounter with guys being nasty perverts (eve teasing), and guys who stand up for the rights of their female friends and companions. Funny how a bunch of my friends had warned me that Delhi had bad eve-teasers and it wasn't safe and I should be careful. Delhi so far has not shown ANY of that, and I've been here for some time. I get a lot of stares when I'm out but I attribute to that to being a fat white chick.It wasn't until we got out a ways to a crapshoot of a town where all those warnings happened.
There was another diversion and we had to go through Meerut. Ugh! Meerut has a reputation of being a seedy town. People disappear and are never found. We locked the doors and tried to get through there as quickly has possible.
It took us about 12 hours to make the journey from the campsite to Delhi. Since Aunty and Uncle had the key to my apartment, they dropped me off first. Rahul and Sid both apologized like none other to Aunty when we arrived for being so late. I don't think she cared much. She just wanted to go back to sleep.
It was a fantastic trip. For $30/night, we slept in amazing tents, went white water rafting, had a campfire, ate decent home cooked food, and enjoyed the beauty of the Himalayan foothills. That's how much I spent for a night in a hotel in Noida when I first landed here, not including the food. Part of me wanted to stay up in the mountains for some time longer, but I know there's other adventures that are waiting, and I can't wait to enjoy them! There's talk of the four of us going to Agra next weekend as a weekend trip. I hope it actually works out this time.
The ride was like the Indian Jones ride at Disneyland. It was freaking awesome! We were turning left/right and all over the place. It was pitch black so we couldn't see beyond the lights. I remember one Indian Jones movie, "The Temple of Doom" was to take place in India. Great! We landed safely to the campsite. Had to trek down a huge steep hill to the tents. Indian camping is WAY different than the camping I'm used to. I didn't bring anything besides my phone because I figured we wouldn't have electricity, or toilets. The tents were furnished with two cots and a bathroom (toilet, sink, shower w/bucket and mug. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! (website for the camp)
We had arrived at the campsite around 2:30AM so we all quickly changed for bed and fell asleep. We had to get up around 7:30 to move to our actual location and go rafting.
When we woke up...this was the beauty that we hadn't had the chance to witness the previous night:
It was amazing! The birds were chirping, there was no horns honking every two seconds, no smell of pollution, just wilderness. Beautiful wilderness!
So we hiked back up the hill to meet the car that would take us to our campsite. Apparently the one we were at had a large group coming in later that day so they wanted to give us a more “exclusive” camp where we could have undivided attention from the staff and more privacy. It wasn't too far away and while I wouldn't describe the new camp as being as picturesque at the first, it did have it's own unique charm. (Other Camp's Website) The staff was also extremely helpful and would help us out whenever we asked for something without showing any disdain.
After we settled our bags in, a taxi was waiting for us to take us to Rishikesh so we could go rafting. The taxi-walla was an older gentleman and judging by his driving, he drives the mountain road regularly. Speaking of which, the road in the day time is a lot less fun than the road at night. You can see how far down the car could fall and the lack of safety features built into the road. Not only that, but the seat belts in the back of the cars (everywhere in India) never are used or missing.
We made it to Rishikesh and met with a guy who would take us across the Ganges to another car which would take us back up the mountain on the other side to go rafting. There's a lack of vehicular bridges across the Ganges up the mountain so you have to go all the way down to town (15 +/- kilometers) and walk across the foot bridges to the other side. While on the middle of the Ganges, I stopped to take a picture. Ooops! All the people selling stuff saw that and realized I was a tourist and started asking me if I'd like to buy stuff. Random crap too.
We made it to the Jeep, drove up the mountain (almost to where the campsite was) and got ready for our trip rafting. No one but myself had ever been rafting. Sid and Rahul never learned to swim so I was a little hesitant about the rafting trip. I think they were at first but that quickly changed for them. Shortly after we took off, we came up to our first set of rapids. They were small, mostly to get everyone's blood flowing. And boy oh boy did it get the boy's adrenaline going! Then came the second set of rapids. The guide wanted everyone to stand up on the edge of the boat while floating. I refused but Sid, Shweta, and Rahul stood up. And then Rahul and Sid fell into the water. Rahul tried taking me down with him. I was holding on to him at first but realized he was pulling me in so I let him fall hehehe
The fourth rapids were the worst. The boat tilted to the side and Rahul and I fell in. I wasn't expecting it, it came out of no where and I didn't have a chance to take a deep breath before going under. And the water was pushing me everywhere. I was trying really hard to kick my feet and swim up but the damn oar....I was still holding on to the oar! So I let go and managed to make my way up to the top. I felt the boat hit my head and I tried to grab on to the “lifeline” rope. And out of nowhere, as soon as I got up, I was pushed back under by another set of waves. Then I got back up and starting grasping for air because the 10 or so seconds that I was under water, felt like an eternity and I didn't know if there would be another wave again. Then all of a sudden the guide started pulling me up. But my pants were falling off but he wouldn't let go. He just kept pulling. The life vest was wedged in between my two front teeth and then I was landed safely in the boat...kind of. I was stuck in between the two seats of the raft. It took a while to get myself unstuck. Apparently when Rahul and I fell off, Sid and Shweta automatically went to our side of the raft to help us and it made the boat unstable. Shweta got stuck in between the seats too. Everyone got banged up a bit from the rapids. I was cold, wet, and slightly miserable. Life vests are a necessity but they get heavy when wet and my chest gets in the damn way every time. I learned it from rafting down the Deschutes so I was trying my best to not go into the water to prevent that scene but it happened anyway.
When the water was calm, the other three (mainly Sid) would jump out the boat and “swim”. Dude that guy was having a blast in the water! Then Shweta would jump out and join him. Those two would carry on and have fun. Rahul even joined them at one point. The guide asked me if I wanted to join him but I politely declined. I had enough “fun” in the water and didn't want to have to go through getting back in the boat again.
When we got to Rishikesh, the guide dropped us off at a spot on the Ganges where we could walk up to a market and find our way to our car (where we left it the previous night). The market was amazing.
I guess I should tell you a bit about the Ganges and Rishikesh first before I go into too much detail...
The Ganges (Ganga) River is a holy river in India. Hindus believe that the river was formed by Lord Shiva to help cleanse humans and fertilize the land. It also is supposed to carry the blessings from Lord Vishnu. Hindus believe that if you bath in the water, you will be cleaned and blessed. (Side Note: I fell in the water and was bathed by the holy Ganga, I'm officially blessed!) If you're sick, you should drink the water so the medicinal properties of the Ganga will help heal. Apparently for some odd reason, it fights off certain bacterial diseases. It's also one of the most polluted rivers in the world. I guess that's what happens when you have a bunch of people bathing in the water. The further down the river you go, the more polluted it becomes. Rishikesh is a combination of like five small cities and is considered a holy site. It's where the Ganga leaves the Himalayas and starts it's decent into the Ganga basin. There are a lot of ashrams and yoga centers in the area. Hindu pilgrims and tourists alike flock to this place. I saw plenty of white people...mostly hippies.
So while we were walking through the market, I was admiring the simplicity of the place. Everywhere you are, you can hear bells ringing from the temples. There's on in particular that I found fascinating and it was dedicated to Lord Shiva. Every floor has a series of bells (all outside) and from what I could witness, people would walk around the building and ring the bells. It was like a bunch of Catholic church bells going off at random times. Very spiritual. While we were buying water, very very dark or black guy, I think based on the staff in his hand, was dressed like Lord Shiva and spotted me and came towards me. I think it was to ask for money. It freaked me out more than anything so I quickly grabbed Rahul and walked away. I've heard stories of people being “cursed” by weird people like that so I was trying to stay away from him. In hindsight, I should have asked Rahul to ask the guy if I could take a picture with him so you could see how crazy he looked. It would have been worth the money. I also saw another black guy walking through the market with religious attire on. I wish I would have had my money with me so I could buy something from there. It was too magical. Oh and I also made them stop to find Aloe Vera for my sunburn which I had received over the course of the day. Nice huh?We made our way to the car and drove back to the camp. I took pictures along the way. I got some decent shots of Rishikesh from the mountains, and also of the MONKEYS! I was so excited to see the monkeys. Then Shweta started telling me horror stories about them. How one bit her leg when she was younger and had to get 9 shots and a bunch of stitches. Then Sid joined in about how one type of monkey will grab stuff from you and they 'hit on' females. I don't think any of them like monkeys. While I'm not in the mood to be bit and hit on, I do find them cute.
We got to the campsite after driving WAAAAY past it. From there I applied a bunch of the Aloe Vera cream on my arms. The three of them were way worried about my burn so they made me to lay down in front of the cooler in my tent. Coolers are like gigantic fans that you can put water in the bottom of so it spits out cool air. I like them more than A/Cs. After I fell asleep, Rahul came in with ice to rub on my arms because they were so crazy hot. I fell back asleep and woke shortly before dinner. The campsite guys had built a fire for us. We all sat around the fire talking, we were brought out snacks to eat before dinner (pakoras and some other crazy dish consisting of mostly onions). Then they decided they wanted to play charades. So we did that for a couple rounds. I'm not the best at charades but I think I do pretty decent. However, there's a HUGE difference between cultures which came to light while playing. Rahul and I were a team, Sid and Shweta were a team. Rahul had to act out “Madagascar” as we were doing movies. He broke it up into three parts, “Mad” “Gas” and “Car”. Any time I would get something right, he apparently was motioning that I was right but I thought he was saying “keep going, it's along that lines”... He was hoping that if I understood “Gas” and “Car”, that it would make sense. Really, all I understood from him was “Car”. Sid and Shweta wanted him to act out “Mad” ...and it came time for him to do that since I had no idea where he was going. So he started jumping around like a crazy person then slapped me! HE SLAPPED ME! I was stunned. What the heck?! Sid kept telling him that the word he was acting out means something different to Americans. So I thought he was handicapped, retarded, mental, crazy. That's how he was acting. I wasn't getting it so he gave up. Then Sid said he would do it to show the difference.
First he did “Car” since I got that right. Secondly he did “Gas”. It clicked! Rahul was using two hands to put the gas-pump in the car and it looked (to me) as if he was trying to shovel dirt. Sid used one hand and I got it. Then he acted out “Mad”. Instead of being crazy, he was pretending to yell. It made sense. After a few seconds, I was able to put the three together “Madagascar!”
I laughed so hard when they started talking about the differences. Sid was trying to explain to Rahul that Americans don't really think of “mad” as “crazy”, more of “angry” and then then that we Americans use one hand to pump gas, not two. I think Rahul was frustrated that I wasn't understanding his charades but I had forewarned him that it wasn't going to end well. After our game, we ate dinner and went to bed. I was exhausted even though I had a couple hours nap. I laid down on my bed and passed out with the cooler over my arms.
Next morning we woke up, had breakfast, packed, and left to go to a waterfall. My arms were still hurting so I wasn't in any mood to trek. Apparently there was a waterfall not to far away that wouldn't require a lot of walking. When we got to it, it wasn't much of a waterfall and a bunch of guys had just landed to go swimming. We were going to scrap the idea and just head home but Shweta really wanted to go to a waterfall. So we stopped and asked a roadside stand group of people if there were any waterfalls nearby. There was the one we saw. One across the street up a VERY steep hill, about 25 minutes walk in pure sunlight, and one that was a 2 hour trek but an amazingly HUGE waterfall. However, it was full of nothing but foreigners apparently. So after some discussion, they decided to go into town and apparently some city on the way back to Delhi had a waterfall to stop at. A short while down the road, we spotted the Ganga and a road leading down to it. Perfect! We parked the car and walked down to the river. There was a spot that was near the rapids but was surrounded by rocks so it wasn't fast, more of a pool. I put on one of Sid's shirts to protect my arms from the sun and we spent a good hour or so playing in the water. Really Sid and Shweta played in the water. Sid wanted to go swimming but I pleaded that they don't because the current was too fast beyond a certain point and we didn't have life vests. Sid and Shweta made their way out of the water after a little bit of time to the sand bank and decided to cover each other's feet in sand. Rahul and I found some rocks to sit on, dip our feet in the water, and watch the rafters go by.
About an hour later we decided to head out. Back to Delhi. There was a diversion and it took us an extra 30km. We passed through some city where a teenage boy made some lewd expressions to Shweta as we were driving slowly through traffic. Sid got angry when she told him. Almost ran the car into the boy, got out of the car and almost beat him. After yelling at him, they (Sid and Rahul) got back into the car and we drove off. Apparently it was a very heavily populated Muslim town. Riots break out over stuff like that otherwise he would have punched the kid a few times. The kid was scared shitless until he realized his parents were nearby. If I could have, I would have punched him myself. It was my first encounter with guys being nasty perverts (eve teasing), and guys who stand up for the rights of their female friends and companions. Funny how a bunch of my friends had warned me that Delhi had bad eve-teasers and it wasn't safe and I should be careful. Delhi so far has not shown ANY of that, and I've been here for some time. I get a lot of stares when I'm out but I attribute to that to being a fat white chick.It wasn't until we got out a ways to a crapshoot of a town where all those warnings happened.
There was another diversion and we had to go through Meerut. Ugh! Meerut has a reputation of being a seedy town. People disappear and are never found. We locked the doors and tried to get through there as quickly has possible.
It took us about 12 hours to make the journey from the campsite to Delhi. Since Aunty and Uncle had the key to my apartment, they dropped me off first. Rahul and Sid both apologized like none other to Aunty when we arrived for being so late. I don't think she cared much. She just wanted to go back to sleep.
It was a fantastic trip. For $30/night, we slept in amazing tents, went white water rafting, had a campfire, ate decent home cooked food, and enjoyed the beauty of the Himalayan foothills. That's how much I spent for a night in a hotel in Noida when I first landed here, not including the food. Part of me wanted to stay up in the mountains for some time longer, but I know there's other adventures that are waiting, and I can't wait to enjoy them! There's talk of the four of us going to Agra next weekend as a weekend trip. I hope it actually works out this time.
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